# Please spoil Time Traveler's Wife (book and/or movie) for me **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 11, 2009, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-spoil-time-travelers-wife-book-and-or-movie-for-me/506082 "2009-08-11T17:20:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-spoil-time-travelers-wife-book-and-or-movie-for-me/506082/1 "2009-08-11T17:20:52Z")
I got part way through the book and threw it across the room in disgust (it was the part where they start experimenting on the rats and expect you to believe a rat in utero would time travel) but would like to know how it all resolves itself, without having to suffer through it. And to know if the movie is true to the book. ---
**Author:** ![SaharaTea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SaharaTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaharaTea)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-spoil-time-travelers-wife-book-and-or-movie-for-me/506082/2 "2009-08-11T17:24:18Z")
There’s a plot synopsis [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Time_Traveler's_Wife). The movie isn’t out until August 14th. But I’ve heard the film has a happier ending than the book. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-spoil-time-travelers-wife-book-and-or-movie-for-me/506082/3 "2009-08-11T17:37:01Z")
My wife started reading this book and ended up abandoning it as drivel as well. In the book, the guy dies, but she still sees him one more time when she’s an old lady from one of his time jumps he made before he died. They changed the ending in the movie because test audiences thought it was too sad. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-spoil-time-travelers-wife-book-and-or-movie-for-me/506082/4 "2009-08-11T17:55:34Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > they start experimenting on the rats and expect you to believe a rat in utero would time travel So, up until that point, you were able to hold onto your suspension of disbelief? You could believe a time travelling human, but not a time travelling rat? I’m not quite sure I follow… ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-spoil-time-travelers-wife-book-and-or-movie-for-me/506082/5 "2009-08-11T18:01:40Z")
Well, time travel bugs the shit out of me when I try to read about it, but yeah, I tried to suspend disbelief in the case of the guy. Time travel brought on by stress, yeah, OK, whatever. Rats in a cage don’t feel stress, especially when the experiment didn’t describe such a thing. And they don’t have significant places to travel to, since they’ve always lived in the same cage. And the idea of a pre-born rat ripping out of the uterus (and even her pre-born kids, which I guess is why she kept miscarrying?) and then returning to it…it just went too far. Since I hate Benjamin Button with the fire of a thousand suns, it’s safe to assume I’d hate this movie too. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-spoil-time-travelers-wife-book-and-or-movie-for-me/506082/6 "2009-08-11T18:27:39Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Well, time travel bugs the shit out of me when I try to read about it Maybe a book titled _The Time Traveller’s Wife_ wasn’t the best choice then, eh? 🙂 > [@](#): > > Time travel brought on by stress, yeah, OK, whatever. But that wasn’t the only reason. Many times in the book, he just disappears. He did so in his sleep a few times, IIRC. > [@](#): > > Rats in a cage don’t feel stress, especially when the experiment didn’t describe such a thing. IANABehaviorist, but I have owned a few hamsters. They seem to undergo stress at various times. But again, stress wasn’t the (only) trigger. > [@](#): > > Since I hate Benjamin Button with the fire of a thousand suns, it’s safe to assume I’d hate this movie too. I kinda see the similarities. But I love time travelling stories, and also hated Benjamin Button. I don’t have high hopes for the movie (especially after Dio’s revelation about what they did to the ending). Regardless, the medical side of the book never really grabbed me. It was more about the relationship of the couple for me. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-spoil-time-travelers-wife-book-and-or-movie-for-me/506082/7 "2009-08-11T18:32:10Z")
Oh - and since you’re asking for spoilers, any questions from the wiki? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-spoil-time-travelers-wife-book-and-or-movie-for-me/506082/8 "2009-08-11T18:38:23Z")
The whole idea of a genetic precondition for “chrono displacement” is exceptionally asinine, even for a time travel fantasy premise, in my opinion, but what I think is even worse about the book is that it’s so _uninterested_ in time travel, or in this incredible genetic phenomenon. It’s all just a device to keep the lovers apart. It’s all just hackneyed sap at the end of the day. The only _good_ thing about the book is that the author was willing to whack out the hero instead of going for the happy crappy ending. It sounds like Hollywood had no such balls. Taking the tragedy out of it ruins even the little bit of resonance that the story ever had. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-spoil-time-travelers-wife-book-and-or-movie-for-me/506082/9 "2009-08-11T18:43:20Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Maybe a book titled _The Time Traveller’s Wife_ wasn’t the best choice then, eh? 🙂 😛 I love a good romance and human drama and had heard this one was interesting…I am willing to shut off the mind-twisting part of the story for the rest of it, but I couldn’t shut all this out. I also get roped in by foreshadowing and anticipating how that would work out, so the whole getting shot by her brother thing (from the wiki entry) would have been a good payoff. Oh well.